Slipping the Other Way
by Kaydie
Summary: Severus Snape. This is a two-shot that explains his side--the love, the lust, and his emmersion into the Dark Arts. LE/SS, and another pairing. M for sexual situations.


Part 1: Potions

"Bloody Hell!" I screamed and wrapped my bleeding hand in a towel. As the entire potions class turned to look at me, I saw her smirk from across the room.

Oh, how I despised that_ smirk._

I glanced over at the Marauder's smiling faces. They were slapping hands and patting each other's backs. Pettigrew was missing, his hopes for a carreer as a potions master having ended after the OWLs.

Slughorn sat at his desk, head bent over the papers he was grading. Apparently, he hadn't witnessed my little outburst. Or the Marauders'_ brilliant_ prank. He was flushed red; his head of rich, almond-colored hair fell limply over his pudgy face. His thick hand gripped the quill tightly and pressed down hard.

My gaze drifted back across the room to where _she_ sat. Her dark, fathomless eyes were slightly sinister, her perfectly vaulted eyebrows held high in a challenging arch. She was the seventh year perfect, here to improve her lacking Potions grade. She leaned back in her seat and slobbered over the end of her quill, as if it were some sort of chew toy; a Muggle, perhaps?

My potion bubbled and popped. I noticed it had reached the correct shade of lavender already. Lily Evans jumped off her seat and tended to it before I could even reach her precious soufflé.

Of course, she too had apparently been much too preoccupied to notice her_ boyfriend's _prank. We no longer talked much, not since fifth year. It's a wonder that Potter even managed to extort her into dating him. I suppose I had underestimated the Gryffindor.

Potions class was never as exciting as this; the Marauders didn't usually break skin in their futile attempts to rid the world of my_ oppressive _presence.

I glanced back at Slobber Woman, who still stared at me.

_Oh__ I remember._ I sneered at her. _Of course, it was only a year__ ago then, wasn't it?__ And yet you still leave it, hanging over my head, a task unaccomplished._

My knuckles still bleed profusely. I wrapped the bloodied towel around tighter so it formed a sort of make-shift bandage. There was no way I was going to the hospital wing because of that bloody boy band of flaming pranksters. My hand numbed as the circulation cut off, and my breathing became normal once more as the stabbing pain left me.

"Err, Snape, are you okay?"

My eyes snapped to the redhead's curious expression. As if she didn't know. Underneath that_ innocent_ Gryffindor exterior lay a serpent, ready to attack when you least expected it.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I challenged casually, not bothering to hide my bandaged knuckles.

My thoughts drifted as she responded in the usual concerned dribble that came out of those _caring _people who just, well,_ cared _so very, very much. Yet everyday they managed to hurt me. Or at least this one did.

"It's nothing." My thoughts strayed back to my devious plans to execute revenge on those unsuspecting Marauders. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin all sat at the same table, hunched over their cauldron like the three scheming witches of Macbeth. Professor Slughorn would be hard-pressed to inflict anyone else with their nasty sense of humor. They still managed, though, no need to worry. Isolate the scary witches. Yep, nothing bad could come out of that.

I glanced back down at my knuckles, wrapped inexpertly in the bulging towel. Evans was still talking; the most words she'd said to me in nearly a year. I hadn't seen her a single day over my oppressive summer, not after…

"Lily!" James Potter's holler broke off the dull murmur that permeated the potions lab. "Your potion's overflowing!"

Lily's eyes widened. She cursed as she reached for the stir and began the correct pattern. I watched her for a moment to make sure she didn't destroy my Potions grade. An extra counter-clockwise stir was needed, since we had left it on for too long. I watched her add a few notes to my book—the one full of spells she had divulged to her _boy toy_. I refused to believe it would ever be more than that, even if Evans wasn't that type of girl. I noticed her add a bit of Murlap to the potion. I never would have thought. She smiled as it returned to the dark blue shade that matched the book's directions.

James Potter, now having caught the attention of Slughorn and his drooling band of admirers, was working on his potion, head bent over his book and eyebrows furrowed in a feign of interest.

The raven-haired seventh year still watched me, an eagle-sized grin spread across her face now. Her eyes drifted to Evans, then back to me, as if she were trying to tell me something.

Her full, red lips curled up slightly as she mouthed, '_Today_.'

For several moments I was at a loss to what she could possibly mean. Evans? What on earth…? But then I remembered—I remembered that promise I had made.

_I was only a scrawny thirteen-year-old. I was __waiting. The mysterious note had bid me here this night, and__ even against Lily's caution,__ I could not resist __its__ wicked call. _

The common room, twelve o'clock

_The nagging curiosity wouldn't rest until I knew. It wasn't common for me to care so much—for me to foolishly head to the dem__ands of a piece of paper—__but I found the call irresistible, a succulent, blood-red apple, waiting for me to indulge in its __tang__y juice_

_A __bustle of robes__ sounded__ as _she_ appeared. __S__ilky__, black locks cascaded down her back, mocking my own greasy threads. __Her face was smooth, her perfection exotic almost. _

_My heart beat erratically; I had no steady ground, and Lily's warnings suddenly came crashing down on me. I stepped into the light more, so that she could see me. She studied m__e for a moment, her menacing grin daring my imagination to roam.__ What could sh__e possibly want to do with me—i__n the _middle_ of the night? My thoughts wandered down a road of blissful sin. _

_"Lucius sent me," she __whispered__, in her finer pureblood drawl.__ She too was not exempt to Lucius's enigmatic presence; the commanding posture of the sixth year Slytherin Perfect. _

_"Do you remember, do you recall what task He has set you?" __She appeared almost nervous for a moment as s__he traced the dark e__dges of the room with her eyes_

_I knew very well that she didn't refer to Lucius this time; however, it was the mysterious cloaked man who called himself the Dark Lord__, the heir to Slytherin who claimed he would rid the world of Muggles__. I had only seen him once, but his power radiated__ from him, making my knees buckle and eyes grow_

_I ducked my head as an affirmative and stepped closer. When I glanced back at her, the faint light of the torches reflected eerily off her __midnight-__black eyes. _

_"And you know that he told you—"__ She paused.__ "He told you there would be a reward."_

_"Y-yes," I answered, though the words did not role off my tongue like hers__ had__. I averted my eyes as thoughts of what this_ reward_ could possibly be played through my mind. _

_"I—I am to teach you; to teach you Occlumency__ and Legilimency__, as I have learned it." She seemed proud as she spoke those last words, and her hesitancy left, as quickly as it had come. _

_I breathed a sigh of relief. I had been nearly as scared as when Lucius had told me I was to perfect my Potions skills for the Dark Lord, and that the Dark Lord would reward me, in more ways than one. _

As the lessons progressed, Lucius's cousin found that her pureblood training and raw ability in the Mind Arts paled in comparison to what I was capable of—she began to realize that I, though only a 'half-blood Prince,' was worth more of an acquaintance. So she made her move, she enthralled me. Not as Lily Evans did, however, in a way that seemed mutual. I gained my first ally—one whose favors promised something short-term.

_The lanterns __of the Slytherin common room glowered and __flickered in a __green sheen. I watched as the black-haired girl walked downstairs. __She was dressed, not in her usual thick, black robes, b__ut in her slight, white nightgown__ that shifted against her__ naked__body, and left little __to__ my fifteen-year-old imagination. _

_She no__ticed me staring, her eyes followed my gaze. S__he smirked. "I saw you talking to that mudblood the other day," she commented off-hand, as she stalked up to me, her steps slow and __exaggerated. _

_My heart stopped. __I backed away from her a bit, stumbling over myself as I searched for some sort of excuse. "I-I was just—"_

_"What? What is it that has had you so moody these past few days? It's Lily Evans, isn't it?"_

_I was silent, refusing to let my fear betray me. My eyes glazed, and I tried to dispel all the longing that filled me at the sound of her name. This was another test—she loved these tests—they showed more than just my skills at Occlumency. _

_She stepped closer so that her eyes held mine in a vicious grip. "Do you know what I think?"__ H__er breath brushed against me, and I inhaled the poignant smell of strawberries._

Yes.

_I didn't bother to answer her__ aloud__, as the __reply__ seemed to leap out of me, my sturdy shields turning to jello.__I tried hard to mend them, but they__ wouldn't head to my commands_

_"I think you, Severus Snape, love her." _

_Never had such a frightening sentence been spoken to me; never had one been so genuine, yet so threatening at the same t__ime. Her confidence __only grew__. She leaned in close__r__ so that her silky hair brushed the side of my face, and I __was covered in her shadow_

_"And, Severus Snape, I think you _want_ her." _

_My name rolled off her tongue, entrancing and strong. In a way, it fortified me, prepared me. _

_"No, no, I don't love her." My voice was pleading almost. I dreaded that they'd know—know that I was so foolishly infatuated with my mudblood neighbor. No other reasons. _

_"You don't?" She was curious now, her eyes searching for my lies. _

_"No," I repeated, my voice was regaining strength, and my shields were mending. _

_"Good," she said as she brushed her warm fingertips against my cheek. Its warmth did not radiate, however, it cooled when she pulled back. My jaw dropped slightly as she ran her pointer finger along the ragged arch of my nose. _

_"Don't you want…?" She trailed off as her lips parted and__ she leaned in __closer __so that we__ were merely inches away. Her hard nipples__ rubbed against my faded robes. _

_I captured her lips in mine, and she smiled slyly as she withdrew. "But you want someone else, _Sevvy_," she teased. _

_"I don't care," I whis__pered __hoarsel_

_"Oh, __Sevvy__, but what if someone comes down here? What if my betrothed…" _

_I tilted my head to the left and pulled her into me, her thin robes hardly protective against my rough hands. My heart thundered as I sent tentative butterfly kisses across her neck. _

_"My, my," she began, not at all flustered, "haven't you been practicing." _

_I thrust my pelvis into her so that she could feel my hardened cock. __I could sense her smile widening. "Oh, but, __Sevvy__, I don't play like that." _

_She caught my lips and pushed me so that my back hit the rough fabric of the couch behind me. My arms travelled down her the curve of her back. My breath stiffened for an instant as one of her leg__s__ wrapped around me. The thin fabric of her gown __lifted, and her skin __glowed under the unnatural green light of the common room._

_My hand traveled up the side of her leg, as she attacked my mouth, invading it with her snake-like tongue. When I reached the hem of her dress, I tentativ__ely slipped my fingers under. __I slowly worked my hand up her smooth stomach, until I reached her smooth breasts. I __caressed__ them purposefully, and she moaned in appreciation. _

_Suddenly she__ flew away from me. I stared at __her, my greasy hair messy from her searching fingers. She was smiling, though I saw something else behind her mask, her unyielding shields_

_I noticed a glimmer of fear_

_I felt as though I had lost something in that moment, and I wanted her, more than ever I wanted her back. My heart roared in the silence, our lips both red and inflamed. _

_"One more time," I said, hope dripping into my usually sarcastic tone. _

_She __shook__ her head, her __irritating grin still plastered across her face__. "But you want someone else," she reminded me. _

_"No, no I don't. I don't love Lily Evans," I said with conviction. _

_"Then prove it," she demanded as her eyes hardened. __Her__ smiled disappeared, and I was left wondering when it would ever return, or why. She approached me, this time I felt none of that sexual attraction, just a __fear that blossomed in my core. I shivered._

_"Prove you _hate_ that __little mudblood!" she yelled__. "Or the Dark Lord will kill you. Someday, he will kill you." _

_Terror spread throughout me as I realized the implications of this Slytherin game. She was manipulative, and I had fallen right into her trap. "Of course__ I will prove__ it__ to you." I had little choice now but to do or die. __She knew, and she would tell _Him_ my greatest secret. _

_"I'll give y__ou my c__ue, when you least expect it.__"_

_I heard the patter of footsteps, but by the time Lestrange came into murky view, she was gone. _

_"What are you doing here?" he demanded. He searched the common room. "Who was yelling?" He sneered at me, his lips curling threateningly. _

_"Your girlfriend," I responded lightly as I brushe__d past the doubtful Slytherin_

I had manage to avoid her—the summer was easy, but as the months of my sixth year passed, she had smuggled herself into our Potions class, pleading with Slughorn and flouting her under-developed Potions skills.

I ripped my gaze away from hers. The same terror gripped me. What was I to do to Lily Evans? When I glanced back up, she pointed at my Potions manual, the one that declared me as the Half-blood Prince. A small voice demanded that I ignore it—that I seek protection as the Dark Lord learned of my betrayal. The power still taunted me; its eyes gleamed green and powerful. The only thing that stopped me was a flimsy barrier that needed to be pushed aside.

Lily hadn't touched my book, and was instead focused on homework of a different sort. Our burner was off, and the potion had reached its desired clear, watery state.

Her dark red hair was cut short, just below her chin in anticipation of summer. Her sharp green eyes were hidden beneath her long, voluminous lashes. She twirled her quill absently as her gaze wandered in my direction. When her eyes met mine, she quickly diverted them._Some Gryffindor._I bit my lip to contain the frustration that simmered in my veins.

I didn't want her. I didn't love her.

I pulled the manual to me. It was open to the instructions for Veritaserum. What Lily's scrawl did to warm the page, the words cooled considerably.

_A __prank, one that breaks the skin, as theirs did to you. Don't forget._

The Marauders had executed their prank with stealth, avoiding the class's cruel eyes or Slughorn's firm reproach. It was simple, a curse cast at my knife at just the right time. Just the kind of blatant bullying those Gryffindors would attempt.

But I was a Slytherin, therefore a smarter and more able a prankster.

I inhaled deeply as I thought over her note. I smiled slightly as the words formed in my mind. She had left too much leeway.

I glowered at Lily as I slipped my wand from my robes. Her eyes wandered back to mine, and she jumped a bit when she noticed my glare.

Lily never was used to my anger, not having ever been under the banner of it. Even with her deepest betrayal, I reserved that spot exclusively to the Marauders.

She rolled her eyes at me and turned back to her assignment. Her annoyance was always there, simmering beneath the surface, volatile enough for my Legilimency to read. She could no longer even be friends with me, but what hurt more was her betrayal—of all people to choose…

_"Why'd you do it?" My voice echoed through the empty corridor. _

_Lily stood meters away. She jumped slightly before turning to me, eyes fierce and determined. "I love him! Why can't you just…" she __trailed off as she remembered our__ conversation months earlier. _

_"Just what?__ Walk away? That's what my senses are screaming, that's what my Slytherin instinct tells me __to do, but I can't. I can't let you make this mistake." _

_"Mistake?"__ S__he spat the words out. A tear formed and trailed down the side of her face. "I wish you'd _understand_ what I feel for him— I love him. I really, really love him." She sounded desp__erate, pleading almost_

_"A bit sudden isn't it?" She stayed silent. I noticed her shaking a bit, her grip on her books tightened and she stood firmer, feet rooted in the floor. _

_I grimaced__ as I realized how far she'd fallen, how much she'd changed. She was no longer the Lily I loved. "No, no I won't ever _understand_. Your boyfriend is still a jerk, no matter how much he does to hide it from you these days. You've fallen to those Gryffindors." _

_I walked away, my balance off-kilter and my heart throbbing. There was no turning back. Lily was lost. _

_And now it was my turn. __To slip the other way._

My heart quickened as I recalled it, and a flush of power burst through me. I could do it.

I hadn't written these particular spells in my Potions manual, but I had intended nonetheless to use it, just as quickly and impulsively as I had learned it.

"Lily," I said, using her first name just to startle her into listening. "I believe Slughorn could use our batch of Veritaserum. Would you ask him?"

She raised her eyebrow in reply. "What are you up to…" she grumbled as she slipped off her chair and walked up to Professor Slughorn's desk. I watched her go. I clutched my wand tighter, and turned towards the Marauders instead. They too had finished their potion, though it wasn't quite clear, and lavender bubbles would occasionally pop from the surface.

"Ho-ho!" huffed Slughorn loudly as he peered into our potion. "Of course, Dumbledore will be wanting some of this!"

I stayed focused on my target.

"_Bar__a__ba__Famaria_." I sent the spell silently towards the whispering threesome.

"Cassandra?" questioned Sirius, not aware that his voice was amplified.

"Not hot," responded Remus quickly.

The class had stopped their potion-making and watched them with interest. A few Slytherins smirked when they realized the Marauders were cursed.

Lily was still occupied, speaking with Slughorn.

I glanced across the room at _her_ again. She shook her head hastily, as if trying to prevent my next move. It was too late though.

"Emily?" It was James this time who spoke.

"Smoking," replied Sirius.

"Bellatrix?" inquired Sirius.

James hesitated a moment, throwing the black-haired girl a glance before replying in a magnified whisper, "Sexy."

My eyes widened and I dared not look at Bella. The class was whispering now, and I didn't dare spare a glance behind me, where I knew Lily and Slughorn had stopped speaking suddenly.

"_Bogarto__Apperio_."

Black robes rustled, and the wind ruffled our hair as the chilling presence of the Dark Lord filled the potions room.

I bit the side of my cheek as I was hit with the profound realization; Potter, like me, feared the Dark Lord most. Had he even ever met the Dark Lord? What was _his_ fear grounded on?

It was then that I cast a curse so wicked even I was surprised.

I pointed my wand at the illusion. "_Imperio_"

"I require blood." The Dark Lord's red eyes bored into James's hazel ones. The entire class had stopped to stare at the figure emitting so much power.

Slughorn was the first to back away into the recesses of the shadows. I heard a faint murmur, "…but you promised…" It went unheard by the Imperiused Bogart though, who instead focused on its prey.

Bella shouted, "NO!" in anger, but her cry of protest was ignored.

James glanced hesitantly at the illusion. It sneered at him, enough that he listened to it. He slit his arm and smeared blood upon the table.

I flicked my wand at the Bogart, and it faded into thin air.

James stared at it blankly, his eyes slightly watery. The class's whispers reverberated throughout, and I had a sinking feeling that Lily hadn't heard a word of the distraction I had planted. Many of the Slytherins were pasty and confused, seeing the apparation, but a few of the Gryffindors chuckled at how quickly James had relented to so obvious a prank—they did not recognize the Dark Lord.

I flashed Bellatrix a winning smile. She was grinding her teeth and shaking her head as if to say, 'it doesn't count!' But it did, and she couldn't say I hadn't played a prank and broken skin.

Would the Dark Lord even spare Bellatrix a moment? For all I knew, it was only Lucius who spoke with him privately.

Evans sent me a strange glance, one I hadn't ever seen before.

She stalked up to her boyfriend and slapped him across the face."You think _Bellatrix Black_ is sexy?"

* * *

**Author's Note**: It's not done yet! There is still one more chapter to this two-shot. Okay, well, please review. I love to know what you think. :D 

Criticisms are well-taken, but, please, no pointless flames that insult my mother's brother's roommate and tell me to commit suicide. They aren't appreciated by me.

Review! I always return the favor. ;)

**Chapter 2: Detention**


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